'ROLLED & DISMASTED IN MONSTER SEAS'
Yachting Monthly UK|Summer 2023
Ian Herbert-Jones found himself dismasted and injured in an 80-knot storm deep in the South Atlantic after 219 days at sea in the Golden Globe Race. He told Theo Stocker about the experience
Theo Stocker
'ROLLED & DISMASTED IN MONSTER SEAS'

Cape Horn gave me a good beating, and I needed to sort some problems on the boat, so I anchored off Picton Island in the lee of the Horn. It was a good break, and the boat felt ready as I set off north amid a snow storm for what should have been a downhill run towards home. I was also very aware, however, that I was still a long way south in the Furious Fifties. For the first few days it was just that, helped by the northward Falklands current, but then a week of headwinds, which pushed me quite far east, about 1,000 miles or so from the Falklands and 4-500 miles north of South Georgia.

That’s when I got a weather warning from GGR race control, which they only issue for a severe gale or worse. Race organiser Don MacIntyre’s advice was to sail south as fast as I could to get out of the way of a developing intense, deep low pressure system. I took the advice as best I could, sailing south east.

The barometer just kept falling. I’ve never seen anything like; it just kept going down. If I’m going away from the low and the pressure still keeps falling, then you know it is going to be serious. I remember the barometer reading something like 936mb, and I know it went lower than that still. Having sailed all the major oceans already, this wasn’t my first rodeo on Puffin. Up to that point, it was pretty much a standard gale and was fairly manageable and I’d been through the normal reefing process.

Denne historien er fra Summer 2023-utgaven av Yachting Monthly UK.

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Denne historien er fra Summer 2023-utgaven av Yachting Monthly UK.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA YACHTING MONTHLY UKSe alt
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Yachting Monthly UK

I WAS THE ONLY SAILOR ON OUR FAMILY CHARTER AND IT HAD TO GO WELL

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Yachting Monthly UK

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Yachting Monthly UK

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8 mins  |
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Yachting Monthly UK

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Yachting Monthly UK

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Yachting Monthly UK

THE ADVENT OF MARINE AI TECHNOLOGY

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IMPROVING SINGLE-LINE REEFING
Yachting Monthly UK

IMPROVING SINGLE-LINE REEFING

Martin Watts explains how to reduce the friction on the reefing lines of newer yachts

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5 mins  |
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Yachting Monthly UK

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CRUISING THE KINGDOM OF THE ISLES
Yachting Monthly UK

CRUISING THE KINGDOM OF THE ISLES

Joanna Martin and her husband Mark sail across the Irish Sea to the legendary sea kingdom and to draw the wonderful wildlife there

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MOODY DS48
Yachting Monthly UK

MOODY DS48

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10 mins  |
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